Hi folks- it's already August! Half of us will be meeting that all important 12 week milestone this month- horay!

We are on vacation this week in Cape Cod and I have been napping and beach walking like a pro. So glad to not have to work this week, and really enjoying the clean air and special quiet time with DH.

I passed the date when I lost my longest-lasting pregnancy this week which is a really big deal to me. Still going strong as far as I know.

I am sorry to not do many personals but it is hard to read on my phone and I haven't been checking MDC for the last week. I do want to send some love and well wishes to sleepymama and family. So glad your son is doing ok.

I actually am not sure how far along I am. I think I'm maybe 5 weeks. I don't know. When I get to what I think will be about 12 weeks, I will see a midwife or someone - who knows.

I just really found out I was preggers just a few days ago. I am hoping to fly under the radar. I don't need any mama drama. With the 3rd, my mother died early in the pregnancy (at the end of my 1st trimester) and then I had a previa bleed at 14 weeks, which was super annoying. I'm still exercising as vigorously has I have been. I figure, what will be will be. Just finished my cadio fix, and I am feeling amazing. I'm tired and a little light headed. I checked my bp and it was lower than it had been. I have to watch that closely. So far, blood pressure is all I am monitoring now.

Other than that, I'm good. I'm really gassy and not really hungry. But am in good spirits, feeling positive for whatever happens.

Thanks! Cape cod sounds delightful. I am feeling so exhausted I could cry. Back from the surgery and next up is the move and there is so much to do at both houses and I just want to lie down and die. Two really hard weeks in a row. At least I have my first u/s on Wed. to look forward to. MS has been better the past couple of days at least. I just feel starving all the time. Lots of breast pain and exhaustion tell me things are going ok in the womb department. I also took a clearblue weeks estimator before we left because I'm a freak and got a 3+ at 5w5d. I really want to tell my kids. I think DH will agree if we see a healthy heartbeat on Wed. I will be 7w1d.

Oh, the lethargy. Yesterday we took our kids to Old Sturbridge Village (an 1800s New England village with original buildings and people in costume) for this Revolutionary War reenactment. There were 1000 reenactors in full costume by regiment. They did a battle. My son was in awe. Today I cannot/will not get off of the couch. Forced to eat disgusting Sal's pizza for dinner made me feel sick! But I had a great time during the day, since thankfully the daytime is better for me lately. How is everyone else?

I start work tomorrow. I'm off in the summers and we planned the pregnancy so most of my first trimester symptoms would be over before I started work. Unfortunately my cycle got far enough off that I didn't ovulate until the third week of June. So now I'm starting work in the middle of week 8.

I'm sure many of you have been working this whole time, so I feel kind of silly admitting that I'm terrified of going back, but it is what it is. I've been able to develop a routine at home that works for me, and nobody complains when all I can do all day is watch back-to-back episodes of Downton Abbey. The most important thing is that at home I can stand in front of the fridge whenever I'm hungry and search for the one thing that sounds edible when everything else sounds disgusting. I never know what that's going to be until the moment I see it. So I guess I just have to bring a ton of different foods tomorrow that I have no energy to prepare, which means I'll be asking my husband to spend his Sunday evening doing it.

That, and there's nowhere to nap. I did tell my boss that there's no way I'll be at work first thing in the morning (and I really don't care what my colleagues think).

I have a really flexible work environment and I'm actually very lucky with the setup I have. There's no reason to be anxious about it, but it's a big change, and even though I'm trusting my body a lot more these days, it helps to be at home.

Just thought I'd get that off my chest!

ETA before I forget: I also am holding out hope that going back to work will make the time pass more quickly and will even distract me from some of my symptoms. So it's not all anxiety...just mostly!

Yeah I'm a teacher and not looking forward to going back in a couple weeks. Not being able to leave the classroom is pretty anxiety provoking. I will be 10 weeks almost 11 when school starts though. Hopefully feeling ok.

I am quite envious of you ladies getting to miss work during your first trimester!! I work full time in an urgent care blegh. I am definitely getting tons of questions from my coworkers about what I will do when baby comes since everyone knows I am our family's primary earner (which quite frankly sucks). I just keep saying I will just have to figure it out.....which I will. This pregnancy was planned, but I definitely didn't plan every single detail sheesh!

Anyway I worked all weekend and just have to get through tomorrow for 3 sweet days off. What will I do? Probably park my ass on the couch and maybe just maybe attempt some yoga or food preparation?!

Mama to my angel baby Drew (9/22/06), Alexia (10/26/11) , and hoping for a in 3/2015!!

I do think work has been a welcome distraction and helps the time pass faster. My biggest issue with it is that the background nausea and tiredness wears my patience down and I work in a very small department where it's so important to be kind and patient with my coworkers, who are not always kind patient people. And the effort that goes into the minimal accepted workplace hygiene and apparel . That can be a challenge. Once I am there things are generally fine.

I have been feeling pretty pregnant. I'm not working this time around, but I am a full time following/playing with/feeding/mothering my 16 month old. Which is super tiring! Lately I have not been sleeping for chunks of the night due to morning sickness and then my son usually tries to nurse the rest of the early morning. But I need my sleep! Plus, I just don't have that much milk after being up sick. Poor baby is not a fan.

Funny preggers moment:
I put my son down for his nap and prepared the perfect lunch containing all the things that I was craving (grapes, olives, pickles, salmon salad sandwich with kale) and watching a rom-com period drama when my husband walked through the door.
Husband: Are you crying?
Me: Yes. At every little thing in this movie. *sob* and because my food is so good. It's everything I've been craving.
Husband: Did you make me lunch too?
Me: No, because I didn't know when you'd be home. The salmon salad is in the fridge.
Husband: Are the pickles in the fridge too?
Me: *Sobbing* Yes. The pickles are in the fridge getting all cold.
Husband: (hands me another pickle)
Me: *sobs* It's so beautiful.
Pregnant much?

Married to the love of my life I'm a stay at home Catholic mom who loves to read, clean, AP, and make my own herbal medicine.
Our kids: 2 babies in heaven; Peter, born at home 4/5/13 ; Baby in belly, due 3/20/15 Planning on another homebirth and tandem nursing.

My first day back at work was OK (once I finally got there, that is), but I did learn a couple tough lessons. Most importantly, I need to carry a snack around with me no matter where I go, even if I'm just on the way to the bathroom. And I need to have food in my office at all times, not all the way in the kitchen. I got stuck in somebody's office at one point without food and my blood sugar dropped. By the time I was back to my office and inhaled a bar it was too late, I had totally crashed, and I haven't really been able to get my sugar back up since. This afternoon I ended up dealing with worse nausea than I've had in at least a week or two and I'm still shaky and weak.

Being at home I've taken for granted that I can just reach for something whenever I get hungry. Now I know that my morning sickness and sugar issues aren't gone - I was just managing it really, really well at home.

Lesson learned! That, and I'm DEFINITELY bringing a pillow to work tomorrow.

I need to carry a snack around with me no matter where I go, even if I'm just on the way to the bathroom.

Yes. Even if you're on the way to the bathroom! That is my life right now. My 16 month old has taken to snacking all the time with me, but he leaves a trail of cracker crumbs and spit out grape skins everywhere he toddles.

Married to the love of my life I'm a stay at home Catholic mom who loves to read, clean, AP, and make my own herbal medicine.
Our kids: 2 babies in heaven; Peter, born at home 4/5/13 ; Baby in belly, due 3/20/15 Planning on another homebirth and tandem nursing.

Last night something happened that I really was not expecting. I have always respected all pregnancy cravings that I've heard about, but in the back of my mind I always thought that when the women ate really unhealthy food they were probably using pregnancy as an excuse to eat whatever they wanted. Well, I stand corrected, thank you karma.

Last night my husband made simple cheese pizza and some sated kale salad. Simple cheese pizza has been something I've been able to eat no problem. It seems my body is doing another hormonal leap because I just couldn't eat the pizza. Or anything savory. I ate chocolate hazelnut ice cream and some dried fruit for dinner. It was the only thing that I could swallow and it settled my stomach. Here's the kicker, last night was also the first night in a long time I didn't wake through the night with morning sickness. This morning I feel a little light headed, so I'm going to try to eat a well rounded meal, but to be completely honest, all I feel like eating is sugary cereal. We don't have any in the house and it should probably stay that way. I have always preferred savory food to sweet food past the age of 12. Last pregnancy was a meat carnage pregnancy. I guess this one is a coco-puff pregnancy.

Married to the love of my life I'm a stay at home Catholic mom who loves to read, clean, AP, and make my own herbal medicine.
Our kids: 2 babies in heaven; Peter, born at home 4/5/13 ; Baby in belly, due 3/20/15 Planning on another homebirth and tandem nursing.

@Morgan Harrigan
fortunately I have been able to keep food down and haven't experienced extreme aversions, except to coffee. But here are the things I've been craving:
- Pancakes
- Fruit snacks
- Soda
- Pancakes
- Chana masala
- Pancakes
Yep, I think I'm with you re: the coco-puff pregnancy. I never drink soda. I wonder what's up with it since it doesn't scratch a single nutritional itch.

Yes, Morgan! The most frustrating thing for me is how often the comfort food changes. I feel like I'm running out of options - because once I go off of one food, it's off limits forever! Tofu used to be my #1 rescue food - like instant relief the second it hit my tongue. And right now I'm forcing it down my throat because I know I need the protein to stave off nausea and I'm at work and I can't cook anything else, but it tastes like death to me. Like it's literally hard to swallow it. But I haven't found my new rescue food yet! I'm in a food vacuum!

It's so weird how instantly it can all change. Sometimes you don't even know until you're staring down a plate of food that you specifically asked for and suddenly can't imagine eating! Even if it worked yesterday.

I hope pickles continue to make you cry happy tears and not sad tears, Morgan!

Yes yes yes. I have this beautiful CSA that is the gold standard of CSAs and the idea of vegetables is horrible to me. Cooking them is depressing. Thankfully we can fill our large bags with whatever we want and they have these baby potatoes in the share that are so tiny and flavorful so I got a lot of them. I made some corn and bean salad to eat for lunch when I got home from picking up the share and now the sight of it is hurlacious.

I just made the most glorious grilled cheese sandwich. Hope it stays down.

I normally hate soda and carbonated drinks but I have been downing San pelligrino clementines like crazy. I also got some hansens mandarin natural soda and some Reed's spicy ginger beer.

In other news I am over the moving. My kitchen is not packed and there are loose ends everywhere and my kids are whining that I packed their stuff. Yeah, we are moving Thursday, remember? Deal. They are being extremely unhelpful too and I can barely keep my eyes open. Wake me when it's over, ok?

I love complaining on here so much, you guys. And I love reading your complaining. Even when I share with women who have been pregnant before, I can see in their eyes (and I take hope from this!) that they don't really remember it being that bad and mostly they just remember that it ends eventually. Even though I take hope from it, it makes the complaining kind of disappointing.

sleepymama, every time I read about your move I think, "If she can do THAT, I can handle whatever I'm doing." It has got to be absolutely exhausting. I wish we could all band together to help you pack! Many pregnant hands would make light work. Or at least we could all whine about it together...

rosemarino, we have a CSA too, and it's finally tomato season and I'm heartbroken that I can't enjoy them. I tried a little bit of tomato the other day and the first bite was heaven. The next few bites were not. Now I don't even want to think about them. I didn't think of this tragedy when we decided to plan for an early spring baby...

Morgan, I had my first big unreasonable cry last night! It was because the window AC unit in our bedroom broke in the middle of the night - loudly - and I had to switch to a bedroom with no AC, and I can't breathe through my nose because of this damn pregnancy rhinitis so fans dry out my mouth, and I was so unreasonably pregnant-hot last night to begin with. And my husband was determined to sleep through the whole thing, and I was so mad at his ability to keep sleeping! I just sat there on the edge of the bed and sobbed...then switched beds and cried myself to sleep. It was ridiculous.

I also just woke up from a nap on the floor of my office. It was not comfortable at all and it was the absolute best.

I bought a package of San Pellegrino pompelmo soda and they're great, but sadly my kids love them, too. We were able to trick the 2 year old by filling an empty can with a little seltzer and lemonade.

Tonight we're invited out to dinner by some people I don't know. My husband teaches at a prep school and one of his students is great and its her (she graduated) and her parents. Her mom owns a prestigious gallery in Boston which is why I agreed to go! Hoping for some inside scoop. I got my work into an international exhibition (just found out). Over 500 entrants and mine got selected! With 14 other artists. This is a definite first for me, woot! But the show is at the end of the month and they haven't told me which pieces are included. One of my pieces is in a collection in TN and I may need to get it shipped to me. Ugh.

I totally cried in front of my kids because they just make such a disastrous mess and they never do anything to help clean up let alone pack and I totally guilted them into helping me. They were both crying by the time I was done. Not especially proud of myself, but they helped me for about 15 minutes. (They are 8 and 11, not at all little kids).

@Rosemarino
congratulations on the show, that is fantastic! Sounds like things are going well for you.
@Sleepymama
I hope the move goes swiftly! Good luck - tomorrow, right?

Having cramps and lower back pain and I have a very bad feeling about today. Just reached 9 weeks so that is a week longer than I've been pregnant before. But based on how I am feeling I think it might be over... I don't know if I can call the dr just based on a feeling though... Maybe I am just being dramatic...

@teamviddy
, I've been having some crampiness and lower back pain for the past few days, too, off and on. I think we've reached the point where the uterus is really starting to grow and even push on other organs a bit. I can feel both the crampiness and my ligaments stretching sometimes. And if I have a little gas and it pushes on the wrong spot, that feels painful and crampy, too. But it never feels like contractions and I'm not bleeding, so I assume it's just growth. Aren't we due on the same day? Maybe this is just where we are in the process!

It might help you to know that this week I've been able to feel a significant swelling above my pubic bone, separate from any bloating. I'm pretty scrawny, so I think that's why I can see it. I'm sure it's not my uterus, which isn't supposed to crest the pubic bone until 12 weeks, but I imagine it's other organs being moved out of the way as it fills up my pelvic bowl. That's why the cramping really hasn't surprised me much. There is definitely growth happening! I have no idea what your figure is like, but I thought I'd let you know that I can tell my uterus is much bigger now than before and growing every day - and that yours surely is, too!

I think if you are really concerned you shouldn't feel silly about calling your doctor, because you know your body and what you're feeling better than anyone. But let's hope it's just a sign that things are actually going well and progressing as they should! Fingers crossed!

@teamviddy
My thoughts and prayers are coming your way! I hope everything turns out to be ok!
Cramps and back pain can be a very normal symptom in pregnancy, as I'm sure you know. But I understand the fear all too well. When I was having cramping (and even a little spotting, which was so scary) in my last pregnancy, my midwife told me to take some magnesium, drink lots of water, and lie down. It worked!
So far I've had a couple bad moments of back pain and cramps with this pregnancy and I take my magnesium, rest, and voila! Oh, and I say go ahead and call your doctor. They are here for our care. Reassurance for a pregnancy after miscarriage is so helpful. I was so scared last time around, and everything turned out to be ok!

Sorry to jump into problem solving mode, that's my M.O.
@Rosemarino
Congratulations on the show!
@Sleepymama
packing is the worst. I hope the rest of the move goes smoothly!

Married to the love of my life I'm a stay at home Catholic mom who loves to read, clean, AP, and make my own herbal medicine.
Our kids: 2 babies in heaven; Peter, born at home 4/5/13 ; Baby in belly, due 3/20/15 Planning on another homebirth and tandem nursing.

Thanks guys, it just feels SO much like the start of my period, which is how I remember my 8 week m/c starting (although other ones felt different). I don't know. I am probably just imagining things. I will be sure to drink and take some magnesium. I appreciate the kind thoughts and words...

I also was really slacking on my progesterone because frankly it is really gross in suppository form and I hate adding to my symptoms. Like, I hate the progesterone more than giving myself daily blood thinner injections. I am picking that back up 2x a day like I'm supposed to. Only 3 more weeks of progesterone.

@teamviddy
, thinking of you. I agree that it's very likely normal AND that it's ok to call about a feeling. Huge hugs.

I had my 1st appointment today (9w3d) and the mw was excited to listen to the heartbeat and said she's really good--but we didn't hear it. :/ I have to go back in 2 weeks. I have seen/heard it before, but of course I'm comparing this time to other times and I heard it at 8 or 9 weeks with both my others. So. I don't like waiting for anything, and 2 weeks seems long! She assured me things are probably fine. Also because I'm 36 I had the Harmony test done. I've never done any testing but figured I'd just do it. Oh, and I've already gained 6 pounds. Gulp.

So, I got behind & just sat here at work & caught up with this thread. You guys had me laughing aout loud!
@teamviddy
I hope everyone is right & you're just experiencing normal pregnancy symptoms of a growing baby/uterus & that everything is OK. I'm sending you positive thoughts & hugs.
@Rosemarino
congratulations on your show! I can't wait to hear how it goes & maybe see a pic or two of it on here.
@Sleepymama
I sympathize with you on the packing while pregnant. It sucks to pack and move on a regular day, but while pregnant it sucks double- or even more! Just think: soon, you'll be in a new house & everything will be beautiful!
@Morgan Harrigan
you crack me up!
@gabeyho
YES! I want fried things- crunchy, fried fish, mostly. Or funnel cake. MMmmmmm!

We were talking about dinners at the office today, and one of the girls has plans to go to a steakhouse tonight. We started talking about all the different ways to fix steak, and our favorite places to get it... Now I think I have to have steak for dinner tonight. And maybe a big baked potato with bacon!

Wife to since '98; Homeschooling, just completed my doctorate & becoming crunchier by the day; Mom to DSs: 06/10,12/05, & 1/99 & 1 on the way (3/15)

@indiana
, I am due around the 11th. I swear I felt swelling above my pubic bone this morning. I am chubby but have little fat in that area so I will probably be able to see the changes there. Not so much in the stomach.
@Rosemarino
, the appointment sounds good! I hope those two weeks fly by for you!

@Yaliina did you get your fix?

Thanks for your thoughts... As the day proceeded they felt less like menstrual cramps and more like those sharp pulling twinges that I am pretty sure are ligament pain. Then I felt normal by the end of the day. I never ended up calling...

@teamviddy
, we are due on the same day! That's fun. My cramps come off and on. Usually it's the normal pulling and tugging, but sometimes there is a period-like feel to them. It's way less intense (my period cramps are usually awful), but it's in the same "family." I've noticed it especially happens if I'm not moving enough OR if I'm tired (when am I NOT tired?). I think it helps to move because it increases blood flow to the muscle and keeps it from getting crampy as it stretches. I've also found that deep abdominal breathing helps, probably for the same reason. Oh, and being fully hydrated helps too, and lying down sometimes to rest.

I figure if it's something bad, those things won't help. So as long as they do, I'm thinking of it as progress!